The best Windows Mobile 6.1 phone on the market?
I have a Palm Treo Pro arriving tomorrow. It was a pretty tough decision to purchase the device. The primary reason is because it is an expensive device. But in the end the funding came through in some unexpected ways so I made the plunge.
A little over a year ago, I managed to luck into a free Palm Treo 750. We were at TechReady which is the internal training we go to each year. At one of the Exchange meetings, the Palm folks handed out brand new Palm Treo 750’s to everyone at the meeting. Nice. I used the phone for a year and was nothing but pleased with that device. Rock solid. No issues at all with it. But I could see the market was getting ready to change so I sold it in August and have been using a dumb device since.
Then I got lucky again. I received a Kindle eBook reader. In fact, everyone on my team did but considering I already had one, I sold mine and suddenly realized I had enough from both sales to get the Palm Treo Pro.
So I purchased the unlocked Palm Treo Pro at buy.com and it arrives tomorrow. I’ve read some pretty glowing accolades for the device already so I am anxious to see if it really is worth every penny. I hope so. I really liked my Treo 750.
I’ll either keep the Treo Pro for a couple of years or sell it after a year. I’ve given up on the idea of having a combined phone/portable media player for another year. An iPhone simply isn’t an option for me right now. I still have at least a year left in the Archos and Zune players I have. I might as well use them. Here are a few of the specs on the Treo Pro.
Platform
Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional Edition
Processor
Qualcomm® MSM7201 400MHz
Display
320x320 transflective color TFT flush touchscreen
Radio
HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM radio
Tri-band UMTS – 850MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz
Quad-band GSM – 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz
Wi-Fi
802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, and 801.1x authentication
GPS
Built-in GPS
Wireless Technology
Bluetooth® 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate; Infrared (IR)
Memory
256MB (100MB user available), 128MB RAM
Camera
2.0 megapixels with up to 8x digital zoom and video capture
Battery
Removable, rechargeable 1500mAh lithium-ion; Up to 5.0 hours talk time and up to 250 hours standby
Expansion
microSDHC cards (up to 32GB supported)2
Connector
MicroUSB™ 2.0 for synchronization and charging
Audio
3.5mm stereo headset jack
Dimensions
Length: 4.49", Width: 2.36", Depth: 0.53", Weight: 4.69 oz
Color
Obsidian
[UPDATE for 11/16/2008] As much as I liked the phone, I can't see paying $500 for the phone then putting up with ATT's terrible pricing and wireless service. I am pretty much done doing business with ATT so that was the kiss of death for the Treo Pro.